Money’s emergence and its transformation are shown to be intimately connected to the buying and selling of slaves and the waging of war. In this groundbreaking study David McNally reveals the true story of money’s origins and development as one of violence and human bondage. In most accounts of the origins of money we are offered pleasant tales in which it arises to the mutual benefit of all parties as a result of barter. These chapters alone should make the book indispensable reading for anyone seriously interested in the longer-term sources of modern capitalism as we know it today.Blood and Money tells the story of money as a history of violence and human bondage. At the heart of the book lies a crucial argument about the pivotal role of war finance in the emergence of modern banking, carefully laid out both in McNally’s superlative chapter on the early decades of the Bank of England and in the condensed and fascinating synopsis of American capitalism with which the study concludes. 'Blood and Money is an ambitious and challenging account of the nexus between money, war, slavery and, eventually, capitalism-across vast swathes of history. His historical perspective makes the contribution especially insightful.' -Richard D. 'David McNally's new book makes an important contribution to the growing critical literature on such basic components of contemporary capitalism as markets and money. 'McNally’s Blood and Money is a fine-grained historical analysis of the interconnection between war, enslavement, finance, and money from classical times to present.' -Jeff Noonan McNally builds a powerful, richly documented argument that unchecked capitalism prioritizes greed and violence over compassion.his searing academic treatise makes a convincing case.' - Publishers Weekly 'McNally casts an unsparing light on the origins of money-and capitalism itself-in this scathing, Marxist-informed account.

'This fascinating and informative study, rich in novel insights, treats money not as an abstraction from its social base but as deeply embedded in its essential functions and origins in brutal violence and harsh oppression.' -Noam Chomsky A model of Marxist historical scholarship, it’s a must-read for Marxists and other anticapitalist activists and thinkers, speaking both to our current moment and to more enduring questions class, power, dispossession, and the potential of working class movements from below to transcend these.' - Left Voice 'David McNally’s new book, Blood and Money, is a devastating and brilliant account of money and its role in historical and current processes of class and state domination.

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